The Year in Review!

As 2012 is coming to close we decided to look back on a great year! Between weekends, weddings, and workin it in our Rosewood gear we have much to be thankful for! Here are a few glimpses of our 2012:

Well to start off: We partied...a lot! From the Sewickley One Year Anniversary Party, Mt. Lebanons Grand Opening, Light up nights, and girls nights in between we had a ton of fun this year!

Oh and there was that time that Kristen Bell was just hanging out at Rosewood...we can't forget that!

Oh and there were clothes...so many beautiful things came through our doors this year as well as beautiful people to wear them so well.

And maybe the biggest adventure of the whole year: Opening our Mt. Lebanon store!

So from the bottom of our hearts we thank you for a great year! 

As a thank you from now til the end of the year when you buy one item you will get the second item of lesser or equal value 10% off (not including accessories) just mention this post and we will hook you up! 

                                                                         -  Kathryn & Genna

Salted Caramel Hot Chocolates!

After strolling the streets looking for those last minute holiday gifts this weekend I popped into Williams Sonoma for of course the free drink samples and what did I discover? But the tastiest treat my lips ever did meet: The Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate! Yes, I know the Salted Caramel trend has been beat to death but mix it with chocolate? You can't help but jump on the bandwagon! The container is around $20 and yields 8 servings but what did I do? Marched over to Starbucks and ordered two of these bad boys for around $7.50 expensive? Yes. Delicious? definitely. But after a few searches on Pinterest I found this recipe on the blog "Pennies on a Platter" which I actually had all the ingredients for in my cabinet so bam! Free Salted Caramel Hot Chocolates for all! Enjoy!

• 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups good quality Dutch cocoa powder
• 1 to 3 tablespoons fleur de sel or good sea salt (My preference is 1-tbsp)
• 1 cup dry milk powder
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 10 ounces good quality bittersweet chocolate or chocolate chips

Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. Heat the 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar in a large heavy pan, over medium heat, without stirring. When the sugar begins to melt, take the handle of the pan and swirl it to melt without burning. The sugar might seem to crystallize, but it will eventually melt to a deep amber color. (Can take 15-20 minutes, so be patient.)

Remove the pan from the heat and carefully add the vanilla. Whisk the caramel until smooth again, then immediately pour it onto the lined baking sheet. Allow it to spread without touching it. Set aside and let the caramel harden, at least 1 hour.

When ready to make the mix, use the back of a large spoon to tap the caramel several times into small broken pieces that can fit into the feeding tube of a large food processor. Turn the processor on, and while running, feed the caramel pieces into the tube so the processor pulverizes the caramel into a fine powder. Continue to add the pieces, a few at a time, until it is completely powder (a cloud of caramel dust will float out of the tube). Turn the processor off and follow the next steps to complete the mix.

Add the rest of the ingredients, except the chocolate, into the food processor with the caramel powder. Replace the lid and process until smooth. Add the chocolate to the bowl and process again until the mixture is a fine powder.

Store in an airtight container, in a cool, dry place for up to one month. To serve, stir 3 tablespoons mix into 1 cup hot milk.

Gifts for those sweet Kiddos!

Have you saved your shopping till the last  minute?? You don't know what to get that friend that just had a baby. What about that sweet little niece or nephew you have? Do you not have time to go shopping?

Here are picks for baby's and toddlers. All baby things are from Rosewood Mt. Lebanon unless mentioned otherwise.

For: Your Friend that just had a little girl

Knit Booties $40

Chevron Blanket $45

Wall Art $45

Shop Bop

                         

For: The friend that had a little boy

Mustache blanket $45

Knit Booties $40

Christmas Tree Hat $22

Baby Bib/Blanket $30

For that toddler in our life...

We love Zara and H&M, when it comes to shopping for kids

Hope you enjoyed today's picks! Don't forget free shipping from Zara and it only takes 4 days!!

We always have some cute ideas for kids if you ever need some pointers feel free to email us!

Trend Alert: Leather!

A lot of designers have been coming out with these crazy leather looks for the runway shown below and we wanted to show you how to take this somewhat scary trend and modify to your everyday wardrobe!

And here are some cute ways we've seen it done by the everyday lady like yourself! 

 

The moral of the story is this: you can make any runway trend work you can have to tone it down and modify for your everyday lifestyle! And Bonus Rosewood has faux leather leggings you can pick up to start this fun trend this weekend! Have fun!

What are you getting your man for Christmas??

This is nothing more than a desperate plea for your input..We've seen every pin, every blog post and every j.crew catalog that has rolled our way but nothing has really make us say "Whoo!" So we want your help! What are you getting that special someone in your life this Christmas?

Happy Wiz Khalifa Day!

Yes, that's right! It's Wiz Khalifa day here in Pittsburgh and since we are sucker for just about any holiday we thought we'd celebrate by showing you some black and yellow outfits that we think are adorable! Here's to you Wiz!

via http://pretaportre.tumblr.com

 via dailymail.com

via lookbook.nu 

How to thrift..

While we will never say we are expert thrifters we will say that we have collected some pretty beautiful things over the years. Like this cabinet that we had No Good Riding Hood restore to use as the Sewickley Store's checkout counter. We highly recommend you taking a peak at their facebook page for help with all of those gems you will find on your hunt.






 Before giving you our rules of the hunt we first thought we would share with you our favorite places to hunt for loot and why they are great.

The Antique Mall in Bellevue:  this place is great for smaller items like an end table or a cute antique to accent that empty dresser top of yours- and it's in a giant purple building so what's not fun about that already?

Construction Junction in Point Breeze: this place is huge! And the best part about it: things go on sale depending how long they have been there! This is the best place to find desks, tables and other pieces that are great for restoration.

Craigslist  get all the fun while staying at home just make sure you get detailed pictures of each piece before you pick it up to save yourself an hours trip each way for a vanity without a back...not that that has happened or anything...crap.

After you have gotten into the swing of thrifting with these places you have graduated to the next level! You are now ready for estate sales and yard sales where the real hunt lies! We've found the local paper to be the best place for the heads up on this outings.

Now that you have somewhere to go now here are the rules of the game::


1. If you think it's junk-it is. Simple as that. Many a trips we have had where we brought home that kind of cool looking mannequin head or whatever weird thing is may be home only to realize that it will go right into the trash.










2. Will you use it? This is a good one to think about if you are on the fence with a purchase. 9 times out of 10 you won't.


3..Is that a good price? You may be in love with something but ask yourself if you can get it somewhere else unused for cheaper.





4. The final rule: timing is everything! Yes, you do want to get to the sale early to see the cream of the crop but we've found waiting towards the end of the day always leads to the best deals since most people just want to get rid of their wares.


With all of those rules in the back of your head just remember to have fun! And check out some of the goodies we have collected that call Rosewood it's home!

The Top 5 Must Haves!!!

Hi Ladies!! We wanted to give a shout out to Valarie Panei today!

 Valarie is a makeup artist and all around beauty expert check out her website for a total list of what she can offer you this holiday season! We asked her to share her favorite beauty tips and products to help you look complete your total holiday look!  Enjoy!







1. Josie Moran 

    Product : 100% pure Argan oil 

- great for all skin types ( don't let the oil word mislead you ). Super great source of antioxidants / fatty acids. Use on face / hair and nails. Will give you glowing radiant skin!!!! And I swear its helped my eyelashes to grow - i always brush my closed lids with the excess that's left in my hands.  I can't love this product anymore!!!!!

 

2. Dr Dennis Gross 

 Product : Alpha beta daily facial peels

        

- two step daily process. Like a facial in a can. Contains alpha hydroxy acid to exfoliate and erase fine lines. Clears imperfections, controls oil, minimizes pores. It's good for even sensitive skin - vegan and paraben free!

3. Laura Mercier

 Product : flawless skin face polish

-Creamy face scrub.  Has tiny microbeads that are a gentle exfoliator /  Good for even sensitive skin. I use every other day - because I also use the peel pads above. Too much exfoliate will actually do the reserve and possibly cause breakouts and sensitive skin. 

 4. Garnier ( drugstore find!!)

    Product : BB cream 

- all in one face product. Acts as a primer, foundation, serum , and sunblock ( if it contains sunscreen). Great for everyday wear. can be used like a tinted moisturizer ( more coverage than a tinted moisturizer ). Cheap!!!! 

 

 5. Bobbi brown

  Product : cream blush

- it's a multi functional  item - use on cheeks and lips!! Creates a dewy flush look. Silky smooth texture. Can wear on top of bb cream or with a full face of makeup !  Color range is wide - most any skin time can use it. Apply: dot ring and index fingers in it - dot on to cheeks and blend well. Apply again for more color. 

Christmas Calories...

Let's face it...We all have been there, you know what we're talking about: being the girl who just hangs out at the cookie table for a few too many hours during the month of December or better yet; the well intentioned  friend who takes the extra time to make that Chex Mix your friends love but when delivery time comes around you find only a bowl filled with crumbs and the pretzels everyone always eats around. Don't worry we aren't here to swat the hand filled with treats! We found this cute diagram from Real Housewives  to help you the day after you might have any of these minor slip-ups.

Merry Munching!!

Perfect Packaging

Hi Ladies!! Since we have seen so many of you in both of the stores buying your friends and family such cute goodies we wanted to feature a blog post showing you how to take that gift to the next level with this easy wrapping tutorial inspired by all of those gorgeous pins floating around Pinterest like these:

First start off with all of your supplies: a few boxes, 3-5 sheets of your favorite colored tissue paper, a roll of tulle, a few writing instruments one having a round eraser, scissors, our favorite glitter tape (because we didn't have any clear tape), the item that will be getting the special treatment, an ink pad, some cute string and finally these FREE printable gift tags we found at Creature Comfort Blog and here are some other Free printable tag websites Kelli Murray, Pixelstixgraphics, and Shimtokk

Start by laying out your tissue and place your neatly folded item in the center of the paper like so

Next Fold the tissue around and tape closed

After that trim both sides of the paper and take the trimmed sides and fold them into a triangle and tape them close to middle 

yeah, we know it looks a little scary but thankfully that will be the bottom. 

Look how nice it looks when we flip her over!! Now grab your tulle and cut two pieces one being about double the length of your package and the other being about 3/4 of its size.

Take the smaller piece of tulle and tie it around the package with the knot being on the other side like the above picture. Now take the other piece of tulle and form a bow around the front like this:

Now it's time to address those adorable gift tags we showed you!

We just attached ours with some tape and voila! Look at your pretty package!!!

All that is left to do it place among your other pretty packages and enjoy looking like the gift wrapper that you've envisioned yourself to be every year but got to tired to actually do it!

To make the polka dot box we just used a pencil eraser and ink pad. 

The glitter box was easy too! Just glitter tape from Scrapbook or you can try Hobby Lobby

Enjoy!!

Stay tuned tomorrow for Free Printable Prints for your home this season.